The Perk- Friday morning

[solo_sword]

Jaina had been keeping a low profile over the last few days, but last night had involved a lot of bad dreams that had gotten her to give up and wake up early, so now her whole routine was off and she needed coffee, so to the Perk it was.

And while she was here, she was going to look over news from home. Not the usual bad stuff that she was sorry to be missing, but she was mostly checking to see what people were saying about Jag after almost the full first year of her job. Yes, she was essentially Googling her boyfriend. She was curious, okay?


[I have 16 invoices. So open.]

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[sith_happened]

Anakin came into the coffee shop and gave Jaina a tiny smile before ordering his coffee (black, no sugar, no weird stuff in it, thank you very much) and joining her at the table. "I've been meaning to stop and see you."

[solo_sword]

"I've been scarce," she admitted, but offered a tiny smile back as she pushed her datapad aside.

Sign of growth here.

[sith_happened]

Anakin gave her a quick pulse of understanding through the Force. "Understandable," he said softly. "I haven't exactly been up for people myself."

[solo_sword]

"Trying to avoid the tough conversations too?" Though she knew she should have this one. It was still hard.

[sith_happened]

Anakin busied himself taking a sip of his coffee. "I'm not...good...with emotions," he vastly understated.

[solo_sword]

Jaina raised an eyebrow. "Really? I never would have guessed."

Of course, she was the one that was stalling, so.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's lips quirked up. "I know it comes as a shock."

[solo_sword]

Jaina smiled a little, and said, "All right. If we do this, then we get it over with and don't have to worry about it anymore. So. Anakin."

[sith_happened]

"Anakin," he echoed, sounding pained. "We couldn't stop it."

[solo_sword]

"Nope." Jaina's voice just sounded flat. Apparently that's what happened when you'd been through this multiple times with multiple brothers. "At least it means their way is probably going to end the way it needs to."

[sith_happened]

"That's not much comfort," Anakin replied softly.

[solo_sword]

"It's what we've got," Jaina shrugged. "Honestly, I don't think there's comfort to even be had."

[sith_happened]

"Me either," Anakin replied, toying with his coffee cup. "Time will gradually make it less...painful."

He meant "excruciating."

[solo_sword]

"It will. Trust me, I'm the expert on this," Jaina said, sipping her coffee.

Well, at least she'd moved from depressed to bitter.

[sith_happened]

"I'm sorry that you are," Anakin said with bald honesty. "I don't wish this on anyone."

[solo_sword]

"At least there's no way it can happen again," she said. "And if it can, I quit."

[sith_happened]

"I quit right along with you," Anakin declared. "No idea where else I'd go," since crashing at Aeryn's would be the most awkward thing ever for the next few decades, "but I'd quit."

[solo_sword]

"Glad we're agreeing. So how are you doing?" Because it was easier than talking about her.

[sith_happened]

"Last weekend didn't help things," he said, making a face.

[solo_sword]

"Do I want to know?" she asked, frowning.

[sith_happened]

"Someone apparently felt I hadn't properly expressed my grief," Anakin said dryly. "I did a lot of picturesque crying by the water."

[solo_sword]

"Well if you're going to cry out your grief, you might as well have it be picturesque," Jaina decided.

[sith_happened]

"My eyes didn't even get red," Anakin said. "It was amazing."

[solo_sword]

"...Okay, I wouldn't mind that happening to me," Jaina said honestly. She wasn't a huge crier, so when your eyes got the red and puffy thing going on, then everyone knew.

[sith_happened]

"I was very, very attractive," Anakin said, rolling his eyes.

[solo_sword]

"It sounds like you lucked out, actually," Jaina said. You didn't want to know what she did.

[sith_happened]

Well, only because he'd skipped over the "making out with his best friend" part.

"Did you make out with Derek?" he asked suspiciously.

[solo_sword]

Jaina made a face at him. "No! If you had, you'd know because I'd still be fighting with Jag."

Somehow she didn't think he was the type to just go along with Fandom weirdness on that kind of thing.

[sith_happened]

"He doesn't exactly buy the 'but the fangirls made me' as an acceptable excuse?" Anakin guessed.

[solo_sword]

"He's aware that things like that happen here, but I honestly don't think he's the type to go along with it," she said. "There'd either be a fight, or there'd be brooding until I finally picked a fight."

[sith_happened]

"Yeah, I know how that goes," Anakin said quietly. "You don't stay married and work at Fandom without some pretty good fights."

[solo_sword]

"We haven't had any like that, but I've lucked out," she admitted.

[sith_happened]

"Rory spent time here too, so she's more understanding about 'sorry I didn't come home for a week, I was captured by an evil toymaker' than most people are," Anakin replied.

[solo_sword]

"That seems like a good thing all the way around," Jaina said, because seriously. "Jag knows not to worry if I take off for a week and don't call, but that's more a side effect of me being me rather than being Fandom's fault."

[sith_happened]

"When you have two kids at home, she becomes a little less understanding," Anakin said.

[solo_sword]

"It's not like it's your fault, though," she said. "If you're stuck here, either you're not in your right mind or something life-threatening is happening."

Someone had grown up with this sort of thing happening all the time.

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "It doesn't get Juliet picked up from preschool, though," he said.

[solo_sword]

"But you're alive at the end of the crisis." Jaina shrugged. "As long as it's not a constant thing..." He was doing better at being around than her parents had.

[sith_happened]

"It's a three time a year thing, with a possible weird side-effect around graduation," Anakin said wryly.

[solo_sword]

"See? And that also probably means you're doing better than a ton of parents on that," she pointed out.

[sith_happened]

"I certainly try to be," Anakin said.